Azed 1897 - Competition puzzle
Posted by petebiddlecombe on 12th October 2008
Solving time: 36 minutes, with Chambers used for about the last 30% of answers. One query left from me about wordplay - so maybe a wrong answer (34), one minor slip-up by Azed (4).
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | WE,YARD - an obsolete spelling of weird (=a witch), found in old editions of Macbeth. (Also WEYWARD) |
| 7 | FA.,V,OR. - favour (archaic) = face, and the ‘favor’ spelling is “esp. US” in C. |
| 12 | OBOE D’AMORE - (B, O.E.D.) in (a Romeo)*. The oboe d’amore is between the standard oboe and cor anglais in pitch. As the latter two are only a fifth apart, the oboe d’amore doesn’t get many outings and is likely to be replaced by one of the others even when the composer asks for it. |
| 13 | SLIVOVIC (also -vitz, -vica, -witz) an Eastern European plum brandy. S=special,I in LVOV,I,C=”see”. The former Russian city of Lvov is now Lviv (Ukraine) and was/is called Lemberg by the Germans. |
| 14 | H,O,CUS(tom) - hocus (vb.) = to drug (a drink) |
| 15 | BOATEL = (to bale)* |
| 17 | LLA = rev. of all = quite,NERO = “black in Italy”. An inhabitant of the llano = plains |
| 18 | UN’S = ones,OILED = drunk |
| 19 | TROW = centre (”amidships”) of “hiT ROWer” |
| 21 | TIFT = a dram. IF = condition in TT = dry |
| 22 | TARTUFFE = a sweet truffle. TUFF = type of rock in tear* |
| 26 | STRANGE = rum. R = “lead from Red” in (nag set)* |
| 29 | CHAUFE = Spenserain “chafe”. Chausses = old breeches, with second half replaced by Fe = iron. |
| 30 | NARES = nostrils. Hidden in “examinatioN ARE Some” |
| 31 | PORT-FIRE = a slow-match or match cord. PORT=wine, FIRE=sack |
| 32 | INTERLEAVE = alternate (vb.) “e.g. Christmas holiday” = WINTER LEAVE, with “with” = W removed |
| 33 | ME A UX. Meaux is the place where they make the whole-grain mustard in those big grey pots which are quite good as pencil-holders afterwards. UX. = uxor = wife (Lat.) |
| 34 | EXISTS IS in (sext)*. Can’t quite see why IS is “equivalent of this“. Any offers? |
| Down | |
| 1 | WASH-OUT - the clue word for the comp. |
| 2 | EFLORNITHINE - a drug used in the treatment of sleeping sickness, which is transmitted by the tsetse fly. (Chambers is inaccurate here - it’s not caused by the tsetse fly, but by Trypanosoma brucei.) THIN in (one flier)* Corrected post-comment |
| 3 | YO(ur),ICKS=sick* - an old fox-hunting cry |
| 4 | ROOSA - O=love in ROSA = the rose genus = blooms. But the deer referred to is rusa1. ROOSA is only an alternative spelling for rusa2 |
| 5 | DEVALL = sink (vb.) (archaic). (L-LAVED), reversed |
| 6 | EDIBLE - “I bleed”, cyclically - i.e. in a form with a number of letters taken from one end and moved from the other end. In this case, two from the front to the back, or four from the back to the front. |
| 8 | AMIANTUS - the finest (thinnest, not highest quality!) asbestos, which can be used to make fireproof cloth |
| 9 | VO(L)TE - volte = pl. of volta, an old dance |
| 10 | ORDER OF MERIT = (former editor)* |
| 11 | REAL,O - a Realo is a member of the practical rather than idealistic wing of the Green party in Germany. |
| 16 | POT AU FEU = (of eat up)*,U |
| 20 | WE(AS)ELS - weasels are amphibious military vehicles, weels are whirlpools |
| 23 | A,G(E)OLD |
| 24 | R(ETRE)E - retree is “slightly damaged paper”, and ‘etre’ is an auxiliary verb. |
| 25 | FUR(i.e.)S |
| 26 | SCRIM = (my curtains)* - (aunty)* |
| 27 | RASTA = (a tsar) rev. |
| 28 | UNTAX - hidden in “discoUNT AXminsters” |
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